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1 hour ago, lovecooking said:

What am I missing?????

Largely that the dried chillies are used to flavour the oil and are often not intended to be eaten.

If you ate all the dried peppers in a dish of the Sichuan favourite, 辣子鸡 là zi jī, for example, you'd be hospitalised. Also, in many Hunan dishes the peppers are not intended to be eaten, but to add flavour to the overall dish.

In much of Chinese cooking, dried ingredients such as peppers or mushrooms are not seen as merely preserved for rehydrating, but for the altered tastes drying brings. They are seen as different, separate ingredients. I regularly cook with both dried and fresh shiitake or peppers in the same dish. They bring different attributes to the party.

1 hour ago, lovecooking said:

What am I missing?????

Largely that the dried chillies are used to flavour the oil and are often not intended to be eaten.

If you ate all the dried peppers in a dish of the Sichuan favourite, 辣子鸡 là zi jī, for example you'd be hospitalised. Also, in many Hunan dishes the peppers are not intended to be eaten, but to add flavour to the overall dish.

In much of Chinese cooking, dried ingredients such as peppers or mushrooms are not seen as merely preserved for rehydrating, but for the altered tastes drying brings. They are seen as different, separate ingredients. I regularly cook with both dried and fresh shiitake or peppers in the same dish.